


Out of Reach

by Weeglyfeesh



Category: Doctor Who, Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Everyone Needs A Hug, Feels, Gen, lots of feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-20
Updated: 2019-08-20
Packaged: 2020-09-19 00:01:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20321719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weeglyfeesh/pseuds/Weeglyfeesh
Summary: Just when Nebula thought she'd lost it all, an old, familiar face comes calling.





	Out of Reach

**Author's Note:**

> Little late to the party, I know, but I had feels. Now you can have feels too.

Staring out over the wastes of Titan, Nebula felt the weight of her failure slowly crush her. Thanos had escaped, presumably to wherever the last Infinity Stone awaited him, guarded by some desperate souls in a last-ditch effort to save the universe.

It wouldn’t be enough.

Dust swirled around her boots, the planet itself foreshadowing the utter devastation Thanos was about to wreak on the universe, all in the name of salvation.

There was nothing more she could do, stuck on a dead planet with the idiots who called themselves the Guardians of the Galaxy and a number of other idiots in ridiculous costumes who called themselves the Avengers – absolutely nothing.

A sigh gusted out of her as she watched the wind-blown sand scour the ragged metal leftovers of a once thriving society.

Then her ears caught something in the windy silence.

The sound was so faint, she thought she had misheard it. Then it came again, louder and more distinct, and her heart leapt in its metal casing.

It was a sound she hadn’t heard in a very, _very_ long time.

She quickly spun about, trying to locate the source of the achingly familiar wheezing, hoping against hope that she wasn’t hallucinating, like she had during the early years. Night after night spent listening to the TARDIS groan into existence, reaching out to him as he stood by her bed, only to watch him vanish into the darkness of her room, her precious, fragile hope cruelly snatched away.

This wasn’t a hallucination.

It _couldn’t_ be.

Suddenly, with a resounding _BOOM_, something landed directly in front of her, a fine powder filling the air with its abrupt entrance.

Her breath caught in her throat, threatening to choke her as the scarlet dust swirling about slowly revealed an old blue box, a warm, welcome light glowing in its windows.

Nebula watched with huge, disbelieving eyes as the door swung open, that fantastic, no _brilliant_, creaking from the old hinges unearthing long-buried memories.

It was like a dream, the latest in an endless, relentless line over the years, as a familiar silhouette filled the doorway.

And then there he was, thumbs stuck in his stupid bracers, all stupid gangly limbs and the same big, stupid smile on his face.

“Hello, Amy.”

The moment hung in the air, a fragile bubble in time.

Then her arms were around his neck, crushing him to her with a fierceness born of desperation and rekindled hope. She barely registered him murmuring softly into her shoulder and running a hand down her shaking back, so focused was she on finally being able to simply hold him again.

“It’s alright, Amy, I’m here now. Everything’s gonna be okay…shhh…”

A part of her, the cynical part that had carried her unfailingly through the many agonizing years, insisted it was another dream, that she’d wake up alone once more on a cold hard bunk, but she knew better. He was here and he was _real_.

She didn’t let go for a long time.

When she did finally release him, fingers twisting into the fabric of his jacket, he pulled back slightly, a warm, tender smile curving his lips. His hands never left her, settling on her shoulders, then framing her face like he had so often done in the long distant past. Her own hand, the clumsy junkyard replacement, stole up to cover his wonderfully warm, wonderfully _real_ fingers as a watery smile quivered on her mouth.

“Oh, Amy,” he whispered, smile dimming fractionally as he gently thumbed her tears away. At the sound of her old name being spoken aloud for the first time in ages, a huff of disbelieving laughter left her, her dark eyes shining as fresh tears flooded down her cheeks.

“You came back…” was all she could manage before flinging herself at him once more and sobbing into his tweed-covered shoulder.

The Doctor simply wrapped her up in a tight hug, holding her close as she wept.

“Forgive me, dear Amelia Pond, for losing you all those years ago,” he said softly, voice catching in the middle as a single tear trailed down his cheek. “For failing you so enormously when you needed me the most.”

She sucked in a shuddering gasp, feeling that old, familiar pain grip her chest at the torture she had endured under both her “adoptive father” and the Kree, the wretched feeling of abandonment that had wracked her each and every lonely night for what felt like eons.

Then she abruptly pushed back, giving the biggest watery smile she could manage.

“Well, you’re here now, aren’t you?”

He smiled back, too tightly for her liking, then pulled her close again.

“That doesn’t make it right.”

“Raggedy Man, I don’t care.”

A chuckle burst from him at the nickname, muffled in her neck, and for the first time in a long time, Amy felt her anger and weariness fall away.

-.-

They took a seat on a heap of rusted metal, the Doctor giving her a knowing look as he made himself comfortable.

She was repulsed by the idea of telling him about _anything_ from those horrible years, but he wasn't about to be left in the dark. And so she talked, the small trickle of hesitant words swelling into a flood that spilled unbidden from her. Most of the atrocities she left unspoken, unwilling to relive the painful memories.

Through it all, she kept a hand on him, irrationally afraid that the moment they broke contact, the Doctor would vanish, like he had so many times before. It was perhaps a childish and unfounded fear, but the many hallucinations she had endured had not been kind.

When she had finished, voice trailing off as her gaze dropped ashamedly to her hand entwined in his, the Doctor was silent.

Then he leaned forward, a sad smile quirking his lips as he lifted her chin to look in her eyes.

“I’m sorry.”

She managed a shaky smile in return as he closed his eyes and pressed a soft kiss to her temple.

“Thank you,” she murmured, clasping his hand in both of hers.

For a moment, they just smiled at each other.

Then the Doctor slapped his thigh with his free hand, bounding to his feet in nearly the same moment. “Alrighty then, guess I’d better go and have a word with this Thanos chap. Don’t know what he thinks he’s doing, attempting to kill off half the universe!”

A huge grin appeared and Amy popped to her feet, her hand squeezing his a bit tighter. “Sounds like a plan, Doctor!”

He beamed at her, straightening his bowtie just like he used to. “Come on then, you can introduce me to your friends over ther–is that a Halfworlder?! I haven’t seen one of them in _ages_! Never quite got over how much they resemble raccoons."

Amy chuckled as they started off across the sand, hands firmly linked together. The costumed imbeciles she had been stranded with were all clustered together a ways off, appearing to watch a puff of dust drift away on the wind. “‘Friends’ might be a strong word, Doctor.”

“Why, Amelia Pond, I’m not around for five seconds and you stop playing nice with the other kids?” He threw a wink over his shoulder. “We’ll soon fix that!”

The woman laughed, his enthusiasm starting to catch as she practically skipped beside him, ready to fully embrace her old life.

It took his hands first.

At the abrupt feeling of nothingness, they both stopped short, gazes snapping downward, instantly horrified to see his fingers dissipate to dust in hers.

Her gaze shot to his, full of shock, confusion, and above all, fear. The Doctor’s face mirrored her own, the helpless look in his eyes making her heart jerk painfully.

“No…no, no, NO!” She tried to seize his arms, to hold him there by force, but they only slipped through her grasping fingers, solid as smoke in the soft breeze. The rest of him was quickly dissolving, over half of his body drifting away in mere seconds.

As his face began to break apart, his eyes found hers again and he managed one desperate word through rapidly disintegrating lips.

“Amy…”

The last thing she saw was his wide hazel eyes locked fearfully onto hers before they crumbled away on the dusty wind.

No.

He couldn’t be gone.

He’d been right there. She’d touched him, _held_ him. He had been _real_.

_No!_

She wanted to beg, plead, scream his name, _anything_ to bring him back, but the words wouldn’t come. Bile rose in her throat, her trembling hands clutching for long-vanished hair. Sharp, stuttery breaths hissed through her teeth, her heart pounding in her ears, a frantic _No!_ ricocheting wildly around a mind that refused to process what had just occurred.

Memories suddenly flooded her mind, coursing through it like a torrential river, the past clashing with the present. The warm glow of the TARDIS console, the rush of adrenaline and adventure, her Doctor’s mischievous smile. Everything she had hoped and prayed for, gone in the space of time it took to snap one’s fingers.

Mouth falling open in a soundless scream, Amy dropped to her knees.

**Author's Note:**

> I was literally called a monster for wanting to write this, so there's that XD


End file.
